


New Recruit

by squishyturtlefuckfics



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Brainwashing, Casey Jones - Freeform, Chameleon - Freeform, Forced, Gen, Hypnosis, Kidnapping, No Sex, Shredder - Freeform, TMNT, TMNT 2012, TMNT 2k12 - Freeform, Torture, Transformation, Violence, reptile - Freeform, scales - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 06:18:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18794659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squishyturtlefuckfics/pseuds/squishyturtlefuckfics
Summary: The Foot Clan are expanding, and Casey is the perfect candidate, willing or not. (2k12)





	New Recruit

**Author's Note:**

> An idea formed from talking with a friend. Been itching to get it down for a while now.

_He should have called for backup._

Five of them had closed in on him. Five of Shredder's' mutant goons had followed him home from the sewers. He should have called for help.

But he was Casey Jones. _Casey Jones didn't need help_.

He'd put up a good fight against the fish dude, sending him soaring with a well-placed smack with his hockey stick, and the rhino was way easy to dodge around on his blades, but the other three were too much. That stupid mutt and the cat and the pig. They'd waited for an opening, waited for him to run out of ammo and space before collapsing on him.

After that: pain. Flickers of awareness. He was being moved, dragged about like a ragdoll. His limbs were like lead, his head rattled and unfocused, and by the time the darkness consumed him there was no chance of him fighting back.

Silence.

Darkness.

Nothing.

"Awaken."

The sea of darkness evaporates around him. Casey's eyes snap open, face torn in a howl of pure agony as electricity rocks his entire body.

He's trembling when it ends, hands tightly clenched, nose still wrinkled and eyes sealed shut. When they eventually do open the room he's in is unfamiliar: his immediate vision cluttered by desks and machines. One of them whirrs somewhere to his side, crackling every few moments. His head is splitting open.

"Where-ngh-the heck am I?"

His gaze crawls downward, snapping to the thick metal binds cuffed around his body. His chest tightens, mind scrambling for answers. This wasn't the lair. This wasn't home. This-- Where could he--

The pain. Claws and fists beating into his skull. Casey's eyes widen.

Shredder steps forward into his vision.

"Y-You!" His voice is instantly tight,  but he forces it through his throat regardless. Showing fear was a bad move. "What the hell is this?”

As Shredder steps toward him, Casey starts thrashing to no avail. His body is tightly secured to some kind of table, and no amount of writhing loosens the binding around his chest.

"You would do wise to stay calm, child," Shredder says, stopping at his left side, and Casey's reflexive glare seems to bounce right off of him. "Impudence will bring pain, and I have no desire to harm you."

"Yeah right, freak! Like I believe that!" Casey spits back, squirming just to spite those words. He wasn't stupid. Shredder had something else planned.

Shredder narrows his eyes, and a long pause washes over the room as Casey continues to struggle. The metal digs into his flesh with every movement, but Casey grits his teeth and pushes on. There had to be some part of this stupid thing that would give. He shoulda listened better to Leo's lessons on this sorta thing.

The silence drags on until Shredder shifts, motioning to something or-- to _someone_. Casey can't tell, but his stomach twists as the whirring machine bursts into a rattling din.

"AaaRgh! F-Fuck!"

He seizes up entirely, searing agony spiking through his body as the electricity arcs through it. Five seconds... ten seconds...

And then nothing.

This time Shredder gives him no time to recover, and Casey winces as cold fingers clench his jaw like a vice.

"Do not test me, boy."

He slams his head back against the table, and Casey's vision burns red before it settles back on the murky room. Shredder is standing near him again, eyes boring into his with the intensity of a sun.

Casey's lip trembles as he speaks.

"Why don't you just kill me?"

"I have use for you," Shredder says pointedly, and the sharpness of those words drives fear into him. "Though effective in drawing the scum out, ending your life would be a waste to my needs. I need you alive."

Casey's mind whirrs with that knowledge. What could Shredder need him for? Bait was most likely, he'd pulled that a few times before already. Anything to drag the guys into this.

The guys. His stomach twists painfully.

Fuck, he shoulda just called for help.

Shredder looks above him again. "Stockman. Now."

There's a panicked rustling of papers and an erratic buzzing before a response. "Yes-zzzzzz, right away." Stockman skitters into his sight for just a moment, arm outstretched towards Shredder before he disappears again.

Casey squints, trying to get a look at the object. What was it?

But as Shredder leans in again, holding the needle-thin tip in sight, the eerie green glow inside can't be mistaken, and Casey’s heart seizes.

"What the hell? Get the fuck away from me!" His body kicks into gear, adrenaline consuming his brain despite his impenetrable bonds. His legs flail uselessly, not carrying him anywhere as Shredder leers over him, a syringe held gingerly in his right hand. When he reaches for his head Casey snaps it away from him, his face a tortured mix of fear and anger.

Shredder’s eyes narrow.

“Restrain him,” he barks, this time looking in another direction, and Casey jolts as two large, furry hands grab his head. Tigerclaw slides into view, smirking as he scrapes his claws over his flesh.

“G-Get offa me! Get your stinkin’ paws offa me!” The grip on his head tightens against his thrashing, driving those sharp claws along and into his flesh. Casey grunts, pushes harder even as trickles of blood dot his skin. It didn't matter. He had to get out of here!

Like a flash of lightning, Shredder moves in, piercing the needle into his neck and driving it all the way through. Everything goes red, then totally blank as his nerves sizzle and writhe, and the sound of his scream deafens him to the point of dizziness as the mutagen enters his bloodstream.

And it _burns_.

Like fire--no, _lava_ \--flowing through his veins. Like acid eating through his flesh from the inside out. Casey screams and writhes and doesn't stop as that pain batters his body, consuming him entirely. Bones crack and pop, his skin itches, and his eyes bulge as his body tries and fails to fight the intrusion.

Then it starts. Skin burning, chest tightening. Tight, strangled breaths as the mutagen works through him. He's trembling. He feels cold: clammy. His vision blurs and twists. Fuck! Fuck!

And then agony.

More cracking. Muscles on fire. Heart rampaging. Writhing and smashing his body into the bar. Screaming muted. Mind numb. Clothes ripping and tearing. Scales erupting from flesh and coating his skin. Bones snapping, fingers and toes morphing and merging, face crunching, mouth and nose pushing out, eyes and ears shifting, hair disintegrating, a tail forming at the base of his spine.

Pain.

Agonising pain.

He's still burning when it ends: when he eventually stops screaming. Everything burns. Everything hurts.

His new body is lithe, more agile than before. He can feel it immediately, and as he slowly opens his eyes it’s clear to see why: slender arms and legs enveloped in scales of mutagen-green, pincer-like hands and feet with uneven numbers of digits. Perfect for agile movement.

His heart shatters. Tears sting his eyes.

"W-What did you do?"

Pain. Throat like sandpaper. It aches just like his body, and the voice coming from it is warped and unrecognisable. It's scratchy, lowered in pitch. It's not his. It's not his voice. Not _human_.

_He's not human anymore._

N-No.... No!

He whips his head around to Shredder's stoic form, his chameleon eyes darting around the room uncontrollably before finding their target.

"Change me back!" Shaking. He's shaking. This... This isn't right. This is so messed up! He was human! "Change me back!"

Shredder just looks at him, ignoring his growls, ignoring the trauma etched into his face and the way he flares his nostrils. Shredder ignores it all, and instead looks right past him, addressing Baxter, and then Tigerclaw once again.

"Subdue him."

This time there's no verbal response, and even from here Casey can see the tiger nod as his eye swivels around to look at him.

"Change me back! I'm not a--get offa me!" The tiger's grip returns, and Casey snarls as his head is forcefully pulled back around. Tigerclaw holds him there as Baxter approaches, pinching some kind of silver and purple device in his hands. "Get off! Get the fuck off!" He tenses as Baxter holds it above his head, spitting and screaming bloody murder as it's lowered onto his face. Stockman locks it onto his head, pressing a curved, purple visor around his eyes and securing it by pushing two receivers under his ear flaps. The bar holding him creaks as he thrashes harder. His heart is racing, ears screaming.

The visor flickers to life.

Bright light enraptures his vision, consuming his attention immediately. Casey's thrashing continues undeterred despite it, the metal pinning him down creaking and groaning once more. Did he almost have it loose? Could he get out of this?

Please.

The light flickers and then shatters into myriad colours. Casey gasps, concentration wavering, and even sweeping his eyes around leaves him staring into the colours. N-No. No, he had to focus! Whatever this was he-- He couldn't let it win!

A low hum rumbles through his ears, the lights expand and contract and shift and sweep all over him. Casey’s struggles begin to slow. His mind feels thick and numb. W-What… What was…?

Brighter… Number…

“No…Stop…”

Casey’s eyes droop, body falling still as static floods his brain. The humming fades briefly. The pressure in his ears fades. Something different presses against them, something damp and slimy, and his scream catches in his throat as they slip inside each one.

He forgets all about it when the humming returns. The colours are bouncing now, and his eyes remain fixed on it.

Soft. Gentle. Lights pulsing in his eyes, shapes burning into his brain. His breathing softens.

Shredder’s voice cuts into his head and everything else disappears.

“ ** _You will obey me..._** ”

 

* * *

 

Darkness.

The room he’s in his different. It smells betters, no longer clinical and metallic. It's fresh and clean, like lemon and soap. Luxurious. It’s new, yet somehow familiar. Like he’d known it all his life. Much better than Stockman’s office.

Office…? Was that where he’d been before?

Plush, velvety sheets of black tickle his scales as he sits upright, allowing his feet to dangle just off the soft ground. He pauses. Soft? Did he know it was soft?

The door on the far side of the room slides open, and as his guest enters he flicks a switch on the wall. The light flickers on, illuminating the spacious area. Chambers of some kind, filled to the brim with expensive modern furniture. In the closet hung sheets of midnight black: varying suits for training and missions like the one he had on now, and in the drawer were weapons of all types. Knives, swords, kunai...

Another pause. Did… Did he know that?

“You are awake.”

Torn from his thoughts, he looks up as Shredder approaches, whipping his tail against the bed beneath him, eyes narrowed

Narrowed?

It takes him a second to soften his gaze, forcing his heart to relax and bowing his head. Why did he feel so apprehensive? Shredder wouldn’t hurt him.

“Yes,” he replies after a moment, letting the hiss die in his throat. His body hums with warmth, scales shifting back to their lustrous green shine.

Shredder looks at him, and behind the mask his expression is unreadable. Robotic almost. He’d always found that difficult to work with.

“I take it your quarters are still to your liking?”

His quarters?

He glances around, eyes scanning the luxurious room. This… This was his…? Wasn’t his smaller?

But… But It must have been his. He knew everything about it. Knew where his clothes were, knew the corner adjacent to him was good for basking, knew that if he slammed on the left-hand wall he could disturb Tigerclaw.

He nods. Of course… This was _his_ room.

“I have news for you,” Shredder says, regaining his attention. “Our enemies are becoming more active. The frequency of your training must be increased. I need you ready to fight.”

Enemies?

“I trust you have not forgotten them?” Shredder asks, noting his slack expression.

He doesn’t wait for an answer, stepping closer to the bed.

Enemies? He… He remembered having enemies…

“Those five mutants.”

His skin itches. He can feel Shredder’s eyes boring into him from above.

“The turtles,” Shredder begins, anger oozing into his voice, “and their disgusting rat master.”

The turtles?

Something clicks in his head. The… The turtles… His enemies? Why did that feel wrong to him?

“You remember, do you not?”

Hands on his shoulders. He looks up, looking into Shredder’s face with a torn expression. Remember… Remember…

“Remember what they did.”

Flashes, shards of memories in his mind. Bright. Happy. Cheerful. Was that right?

“Remember your family.”

His… His family?

A roaring fire consumes him. The shards shatter. The images flicker and twist and he can see them, their faces clear in his mind. Pained. Scared. Terrified.

“Remember how they destroyed everything you had.”

Bodies. Bloodied weapons. Bloodied faces. Bloodied scales and masks. Dark grins. Freckles. Blades. Chilling laughter.

Shredder grips him tighter as he begins trembling, his voice echoing through his mind.

“They took everything from you, did they not?”

His house destroyed. His body broken and wrecked.

But… His house was…?

“Your life.”

Gone.

Blood and fire and death and horror.

The colour of his scales shifts again, inky darkness coating his body, blending into the colour of his uniform.

“Your family.”

Bodies and blood and fire and screams. The smell is still carved into his mind.

But… Weren’t they alive…?

“Even your humanity.”

Broken. They’d forced him to change. Broken. They’d stolen his life.

They’d… Had they?

“They changed you,” Shredder reaffirms, pressing the words into his mind. “They changed you. Left you broken. Left you a monster."

Broken.

_Monster._

His tail trashes behind him, arms and legs tense, fists tight. They’d taken everything. _Everything._

“But I found you. I trained you.”

Saved him. Shredder had broken through the fire. Shredder had carried him back. Shredder had nursed him back to health.

Shredder… Shredder had-

“You can get revenge. We can destroy them.”

Destroy them. He can destroy them.

But he… Did he…?

“You want that more than anything.”

He… He did?

“You asked me to teach you, remember?”

He’d… He’d asked…?

“To join my clan. My family.”

He… Yeah… He’d joined the Foot Clan. Shredder took him in. Shredder taught him everything.

“To fight them. To _destroy_ them. That is your purpose now.”

Destroy…

Shredder tweaks his hand up, brushing his fingers over his cheeks. 

" ** _You will obey me._** "

Something tugs on his brain, like an invisible lead attached to his neck. His brain goes blank, eyes glazing over. Words and sounds become muffled, thoughts become garbled. 

_Yes._

His chest tightens as Shredder pulls away, face contorted with rage. The wave of dizziness passes like nothing. Like it'd never happened.

He remembered now.

_The turtles were his enemies._

“You are almost ready.” Shredder lifts his chin, gloved hands gentle on his scales. “Your time will come soon. Your natural ability is unmatched, and your mutant abilities will prove useful to us.”

His heart swells, anger trickling away along with the black tint of his scales. Closing his eyes, he bows his head as much as the grip will allow.

“Thank you, Master Shredder.”

Shredder gives him what seems to be an approving look.

“Have you remembered your name?”

That gives him pause. His name? He hadn’t thought about that.

Ca… Cas...? Is that how it started? A dull ache soaks his brain. Why couldn’t he remember?

“A new one will suffice,” Shredder says. “I will allow you to pick it.”

His name…

He stands slowly, eyes trained on his master’s face. As he does this he crosses his arms, kneading into the scaly skin on his arms and tracing the symbol permanently burned into the scales. The Foot Clan symbol. His home. The mark of his new family.

And it comes to him.

“Scale Tail.”

Shredder’s eyes gleam in the light.

“Excellent.”

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
